Review: Femminielli Noir + Jaako Eino Kalevi + Touchy Mob (5 Years Shameless/Limitless)

The 5th anniversary of Shameless/Limitless, which was also their last event before the winter hiatus, attracted a considerable amount of people at Urban Spree the weekend before.

The celebrations began with the performance of Femminielli Noir, a collaborative project of Jesse Osborne-Lanthier and Bernardino Femminielli. As the name could suggest, the whole thing is pretty dark, indeed. Heavy techno beats, some ambient sounds, distortions, on top of which resonate Femminielli's demonic screams/whispers and melo-recitations in Italian. He looks kind of Lucifer-ish too, so along with the beat-synchronised strobelights it was quite a show. A disco inferno, if you will.

Jaakko Eino Kalevi played the second gig of the evening and what an excellent gig that was. Somehow I haven't listened to this really talented and prolific Finnish guy before, so I was happy to discover his music from a fresh perspective. I even moved really close to the stage where it seemed that the fun was in full mode for everyone, the 'randoms' included: there was a group of people in the first row who clearly got there by accident (or maybe not, who knows these days) and one of the guys was using the music as a background he could rap to (really loud and in German), which sounded kind of interesting in an absurd, what-the-hell is happening way. However, that was just a temporary distraction, Kalevi's dreamy, chilled out sounds from another dimension as well as John Maus-resembling vocals quickly guided me back into the blissful mood.

Touchy Mob played last and it was quite late in the night, so I was probably already too tired to appreciate it. But people seemed to love it, the crowd was even denser than before and everyone was moving along to the beats.

Between the gigs you could go downstairs and dance to some tunes dj'ed by Molly Nilsson, among others. The room where it was happening was smaller than most of the living rooms you can find in Berlin and the songs that they were playing were a peculiar mixture of classic, cheesy and weird. All in all, super-fun houseparty vibes for everyone to enjoy and dance that Friday night away.

Late review: No Joy + Doom Squad + Secret Secret Girl

At the end of November there was a chance to check out a small showcase of bands hailing from the land of maple syrup and moose (all of the bands being based or having some connection to Montreal, to be precise), presented by Shameless/Limitless.

Doom Squad were first on the line-up. This band formed by three siblings proved that witch house did not end with Salem's last release and might still serve as an aesthetic foothold for those whose interests lay in the occult as well as electronic music. Compared to the crowd of copycats that emerged from this micro-genre, these guys seem to stand out. Instead of looking jaded or too-cool-for-this on stage, they genuinely seemed to be having fun right then and there, engaging in some kind of a personal ritual. The girls were dressed up in long, black dresses, yet somehow they looked more cute than goth, doing synchronised dances when they weren't busy playing different kinds of electronic and accoustic instruments. The parts most to my taste where when the guy got to sing and make sounds with his guitar, it added some reverb-y, post-punk feel to the tribal repetetiveness.

Next, there was Secret Secret Girl, which turned out to be two guys, both in disguise. One masked individual was operating the electronics while the frontman singed his heart out from behind a piece of cloth which covered his face. Motioning on stage like a true diva, he incited some dancing and a lot of curiosity in the audience. 

Just as the venue got a bit more crowded, No Joy started their set with a blast, creating a wall of sound like proper shoegazers should. It was super-loud and noisy which always creates a challenge for the PA, but it didn't sound painful, so I can't complain. If you had a chance to see My Bloody Valentine this summer, you know how vocals purposefully melt into the background and sometimes become even barely hearable when this type of music is performed live. Here, they became even more of a ghostly presence than on the records, harmonizing somewhere in the effects and feedback-heavy complexity of the work done by the guitars. Along with the punk-y sounding rhythm section, the whole band managed to create a coherent, organic whole from the set which incorporated different songs from its timeline. They rocked quite hard and it was fun to see those 2 girls being pros at what they do. 

Review: Man Or Astroman?

My top of the year list is pretty much drawn up. But oh, shock horror, two of the concerts featured never got a review. Guess it's time to get off my lazy (busy) bum and on to it. In this case, I had sort of written the whole review in my head while at the show but then never wrote it down. A Craze classic.

In the 1990s, most independent music bands had "a thing". It could be something subtle like putting on a fake voice (Calvin Johnson and his Dub Narcotic Sound System) or playing a saw in darkened rooms (The Black Heart Procession). Or it could be in-your-face weirdness like pretending you are agents (Frodus), insects (The Locust), or gospel preachers (The Make-Up). Man Or Astroman? managed to top everybody by saying they were from Outer Space and creating a whole story and imagery around it. At some point, they even planned to have several bands tour the planet simultaneously as Man Or Astroman?, though that never materialised as far as I am aware. Incidentally, they also had a side-project called Servotron, in which all band members dressed up as robots.

As silly, and maybe slightly outdated, the whole idea of bands assuming fake identities and making up stories seems, there is something admirable and fun about the effort that went into these assumed personas. You identified each band with a distinct image, you had expectations and live shows could exhale the atmosphere of a circus show. Luckily for 1990s independent music, being a little silly did not take away anything from good music. Really good music.

I do not tend towards nostalgia. The new excites me. The here and now, or better, the future is where I like to be. Every now and so often though, you hear a name or a song and you remember the emotions you felt when you used to hear it. Man Or Astroman? are one of those bands that do that for me. So the minute I read the show announcement by Eine Welt Aus Hack, I was on to buying my ticket. It was only afterwards that I realised that a lot of folks in my surroundings had never heard of this band before. It may be that several of my friends are younger than me. Or it may be that I was just into weirdo stuff back then. Gary and I, and our friend Steffen, got more excited as the day drew near, while everybody else was like "I need to have a listen first". Yeah, you do that. And you'll love. Don't miss!

Preview: the week ahead (16th - 22nd Dec)

One week until Crimbo. A last week of mayhem - let off some stress steam in the evenings at one of these events.
Btw, there will be no preview next weekend. Our calendar is empty except for some forlorn tumbleweed and the howling sound of desert wind. Do look out for some late reviews and, of course, staff top lists of 2013!

Monday

• Joan of Arc and mOck at Schokoladen: Read my love note to JoA and know that they are worth it. Be there for 7ish and enjoy.

Tuesday

• Föllakzoid at Kantine: C*’s gig of the week. Föllakzoid probably share more with Moon Duo than just the label, Sacred Bones. With their looped sounds, I would think that fans of MD would also be into this group from Chile. Though Föllakzoid do not add vocals, they sport a distinct electronic sound to their music, which, at times, reminds me of Goa trance music, too. It might sound odd, but their spacey, trancy, psych music, is super wavey and dancy and just the right thing for losing yourself in music this Tuesday.

Wednesday

• Mother Of Unicorn at Monarch: Mother of Unicorn are a four-piece band from Berlin and play a nice mix of indie pop and singer songwriter elements. For fans of Holy Sons, Rocky Votolato, The One AM Radio and the like.

Thursday

• John Smith and Luke Leighfield at Schokoladen: Some cosy, beardy country music (John Smith) and some poppy British singer-songwriter tunes (Luke Leighfield) in the early evening at Schokoladen this Thursday? Don’t mind if we do, with a drink in hand.
• Fred & Toody Cole at Supamolly: There must be a fair share of Dead Moon fans out there in cold Berlin. Fred and Toody Cole of Portland rock band Dead Moon are giving a rare appearance this pre-Christmas Thursday at Supamolly and we reckon you may just enjoy that. “Stay off the internet and learn how to play an instrument!”

Friday

• Groupshow, Alessandro Bosetti, and Sebastian Roux at N.K.: NK is hosting another very interesting experimental night with music and lectures. Groupshow might be the most well-known of the performing artists, the band consists of Jan Jelinek, Hanno Leichtmann and Andrew Pekler. They play improvised experimental music with Fluxus and Krautrock influences. Read more about the lectures and other music acts on NK’s website.
• Peter & The Test Tube Babies at Lido: Once a year, Peter & The Test Tube Babies play at Lido. And every time, I feature them, but just so that I can share one of my top favourite songs of all time with you: 

Review: Esmerine

Until this show got announced, I've never listened to a single Esmerine song, nor was I even aware of their existence. Nonetheless this show was a pretty positive surprise!

In contrast to every show I saw at Urban Spree till now, this one started pretty early and actually took place in the (not so warm) gallery rather than in the main concert room. The setting was cozy, there was no stage and they had put up benches to sit on - something I strongly support, especially considering the music that was about to happen.

Esmerine are a Canadian band from the Godspeed You! Black Emperor/A Silver Mt. Zion surrounding. Because I like both of these bands, I was curious about how Esmerine would turn out to be live. Their style is often described as modern chamber music and when I took a look at the stage the first thing I noticed was the lack of guitars and the presence of some "unusual" instruments: a large stage xylophone, some oriental looking string-instruments, several percussion instruments and a small horn. The concert began with a brief introduction and started out very post rock sounding with the xylophone player stroking the bars with a bow and the cellist and contrabass player joining in. In the beginning this sounded not too different to other post-rock bands. There were spheric sounds and song structures that built up on another, letting everything sound very melodic.

Yet that changed significantly when more percussive elements joined in. Esmerine were on tour with a guest musician with whom they also wrote and recorded their last record Dalmak together in Istanbul. That setting obviously had a great impact on their music. The additional member played a variety of traditional turkish percussion instruments and his style of playing strongly influenced the mood and feel of the whole music. While there still were obvious aspects of "Western" classical and chamber music (also represented by what instruments they used) and while you could not deny the post-rock background of at least some of the band's members, their songs now got way more rhythmic and Oriental sounding. They mostly played songs from that last record and I really liked how these worked live. The mixture of these different sound elements and unusual instruments and the blending of "Western" and "Eastern" influences created a very special mood and feeling that made this band stand out from any of their probably better-known earlier bands. 

Towards the end of the set, Esmerine threw in a couple of older songs, mostly performed without the additional percussions. They announced a last song after which the audience applauded wildly, making the band come back twice to play an encore. The show ended with a song on a more or less out-of-tune piano and although I wasn't that thrilled anymore by the older songs, this was a pretty nice live experience.

Review: Nohome

Seeing bands or musicians that you have loved since forever and then getting disappointed is a pretty tricky thing. Like all new Sonic Youth solo projects - Chelsea Light Moving, Body/Head, or Lee Ranaldo's new band. It almost seems like they want to destroy their own legacy.

Anyway, I wannt to tell you about Caspar Brötzmann's latest band project Nohome. They played last Friday at Volksbühne. They formed as a improvisational trio for last year's A L'Arme Festival and played a mindblowing set. A couple of month later all three and FM Einheit (of Einstürzende Neubauten fame) recorded a live-album at Radialsystem - if you listen carefully can hear me going mental on that record. Together with drummer Michael Wertmüller and bass player Marino Piakas, Nohome is a heavy (sic!) more-Free Jazz-than-Rock (sicsic!) explosion. 

So, seeing them twice before, I was psyched when I heard they will play again. I got my ticket quickly to avoid standing on the wrong side of a sold-out show. Hmm, but when I arrived Friday evening at Rosa-Luxenburg-Platz and heard only 100 tickets were sold I was really surprised. Strange, I thought, more people are interested in this band and opening act Robert Lippok. Seems like I'm always wrong with prognoses.

Robert Lippok, who founded electronic post rock trio To Rococo Rot in the early 90s in Berlin, played a solo set as opener. His set-up with a strangely installed bass looked very promising. Bouncing beats combined with dark electronic sounds could be good, but maybe I wasn't in the right mood or it wasn't that good. Can't decide. Don't get me wrong his 45 minutes set was probably a good opener and didn't hurt at all.

But I was there because of Caspar Brötzmann. His Caspar Brötzmann Massaker was the soundtrack of my rebellious adolescence. I hadn't heard such a unique guitar sound anywhere else. I'm a fan! He plays more with feedbacks than actual chords and creates thereby a haunting, loud and confusing sound. 

Competition: Damo Suzuki with Sound Carriers

Damo Suzuki is probably best known for being the singer/vocalist for Can, one of the Krautrock pioneer bands and still a strong influence for many contemporary bands and artists. He still performs live, often inviting local guest musicians - the then so called "Sound Carriers"- to accompany him. For this show next Saturday (Dec 14th) at Urban Spree, members of Kadavar, In Zaire and Dead Skeletons will play with Suzuki and the coolest thing about it:

We are giving away two +1 guest list spots for this show! All you have to do to win is send us an e-mail to win@thecraze.de until Friday (Dec 13th) 6pm and tell us: What's your favorite canned food?

Have a look at the Urban Spree website for more info and details about the show and if you're in the mood and have an hour to spare, there's a link to a documentary film about Damo Suzuki below!

Späti Palace video preview

As I mentioned in the preview, people of Julie Tippex, Cranky and other local music booking folk are starting a label to showcase bands and artists of Berlin's music scene. Berlin needs something like this and so I am ever so supportive of this great project. Here is a little preview video they made, introducing the bands which will be on their first record, a compilation.

PS: Please note that Classic Muscle will not perform on 14 December but have been replaced by Skiing. This is due to illness in the Classic Muscle camp. Get well soon!

Preview: the week ahead (9th - 15th Dec)

December, typically a month where the party scene revs up but the live music scene slowly goes to sleep. This year is different and even though we are only two weeks away from Christmas, the calendar is still full to the brim with wonderful evening entertainment. It’s a good distraction from all that is unlikable during this season. 

Monday

• Kid Congo & The Pink Monkey Birds at Monarch: Read Gary’s review and realise that you need to see the man Congo at least once in your life, if you love garage rock at all that is.
• Kurt Vile & the Violators and True Widow at Lido: Admittedly, I have my ups and downs with Kurt Vile. I absolutely adore the songwriting and voice. However, I find that sometimes the execution lacks a little special something. Having said that, the new album is unbeatably beautiful and I am truly looking forward to this gig.

Wednesday

• Selvhenter at Kantine: Danish experimental jazz group Selvhenter will serve a rare treat to fans of the genre in Berlin. In their own words: “Exploring the field between repetitive drone-like compositions, strong beats and free improvisation. Sounds & noise – sometimes acoustic sometimes amplified.”
• Esmerine at Urban Spree: If you saw our competition you already know about Esmerine. They’re a modern chamber music band with members of Godspeed You! Black Emperor and A Silver Mt. Zion and on their current tour they are playing with an extended line-up which includes Turkish strings and percussion. We’re looking forward to this one!

Thursday

• Zola Jesus, Sqürl, White Hills, + Yasmine Hamdan, and Jozef Van Wissem at Tresor (plus film screening at Kino International): You probably know the ATP - All Tomorrow’s Parties series of small and well curated festivals that mostly take place in the UK. Now they do something special in Cologne and Berlin and host a live show of bands that contributed music to the soundtrack of Only Lovers Left Alive, the new Jim Jarmusch movie. There will be a screening of the movie at Kino International first and the bands will play at Tresor afterwards. Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? Check the website for more info.
• Patrick Wolf at Babylon Mitte: I have previewed Patrick Wolf and his quirky 80s inspired electro power pop before, of course I have. Babylon Mitte should provide a nice setting for this, as long as they remove the seats and provide the dancefloor that will be needed for a Patrick Wolf dance extravaganza. Enjoy!

Friday

• Touchy Mob, Jaakko Eino Kalevi, and Femminielli Noir at Urban Spree: What a party the Shameless / Limitless crew have planned for us! They are turning 5 years old and have managed to secure an über-lineup for their celebration. New Beggars Banquet signed Wunderkind Jaakko Eino Kalevi is a “don’t miss” in his own right. Fans of Touchy Mob will be pleased to finally see him perform again, as will be admirers of Mr. Femminielli, whose project convinced me when he performed with Dirty Beaches earlier this year. And those, like myself, who adore Molly Nilsson and Junior Boys get DJ sets by those artists, among others. I, for one, will be there, dancing the night away. Join me?!
• Yuro Chain at Loophole: Yuro Chain plays interesting electronic ambient music with a strong dark wave influence. If you’re a fan of 80’s experimental synth-bands you should check this out.
• Jack Name aka Fictional Boys at West Germany: Jack Name is mostly known for his guitaring powers in White Fence, who we have reviewed before . This, his solo project, is pretty much in the same vein of 60s rock’n’roll à la Rolling Stones, The Kinks, The Who. Super looking forward to this cosy night at West Germany.

Saturday

• Total Heels at Schokoladen: Total Heels convinced J. at bei Ruth’s Halloween Party last month, and let’s just say J. is really not your typical garage punk rock music fan. This is how good this group is. Dance Party Saturday Night alright, at Schokoladen for 8pm sharp!
• Damo Suzuki with Sound Carriers at Urban Spree: The ex-Can vocalist performing live with members of Kadavar, In Zaire and Dead Skeletons. Sounds good, doesn't it? We're going to post a competiton for this show tomorrow and you can see a recent video of Suzuki performing with local musicians of Oslo below.

• Skiing, Slow Steve, and Yule FM at Antje Öklesund: Some local music scene stars have started a new label called “Späti Palace”. Their first record is going to be a compilation showcasing Berlin’s eclectic independent music scene. This is the release party and a great one it is going to be. Though Classic Muscle had to pull out for health reasons, the organisers have found a great replacement in Skiing. Slow Steve is a regular on The Craze and you will have heard of Yule FM by now, too. Party party.
• The Young Gods at Bi Nuu: Even though only one founding member remains, Swiss legends The Young Gods have been doing their post-industrial, sometimes folky, sometimes grand with orchestra, sometimes spooky, dark music since 1985. That’s some time. It holds up though, it truly does. Recommended.

Three points review: FIFTH FLOOR III

1) The secret warehouse event ended up being not-so-secret when, on the day, the organisers decided to publish the location and release on-the-door tickets. Whether Urban Spree qualifies as a warehouse location or not is up for debate.

2) Musically, psychedelic rock, wave, and My Bloody Valentine fans got what they needed, with high quality performances of the rock genre on stage. It was a rock affair with a lot of long hair, beards, and velvet coats in the audience. We rather enjoyed the fashion aspect of last night.

3) Because the event started an hour late and featured a line-up of six (!) bands, it went well past our bedtime and we ended up with cocktails in a bar nearby, where a birthday was spontaneously celebrated and shots with pickles were being given. That was cosy, even if it was not a secret warehouse gig. We are not so sure we are made for presenting events, but we sure know we like a good hangout.

Three points review: Wooden Shjips + Orchestra of Spheres

2013 is almost over and I am introducing a new category: the "three points review". As we are repeating our reviews, i.e. reviewing the same bands over and over, three poignant notes should suffice to give you the quick gist on the gig. Here goes my first one.

1) Packed gig with a lot of beardy middle agers mixed into the hip Berghain gig crowd. Good sound.

2) Orchestra of Spheres were stars and met all expectations and more. Fantastic. Read Kinga's review for details of their last Berlin gig.

3) Wooden Shjips' new songs are great and of the same concept as all albums before - great voice, wonderful bass, doodly guitars. Love.

Competition: Esmerine

Guess what, we have another competition for you. This time we're giving away a guest list spot +1 for the Esmerine show at Urban Spree next Wednesday (Dec 11th).

Esmerine are a modern chamber music band from Canada, consisting of members of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Silver Mt. Zion and Unicorns/Islands. They already released four records, the last two of them on Constellation Records and they play very cinematic instrumental music that's probably best described as post-rock with experimental oriental sounds. On their recently released album Dalmak they invited an impressive list of guest instrumentalists, ranging from Colin Stetson to musicians from Arcade Fire. For this tour they will perform with an extended line-up which includes Turkish strings and percussion, making this show even more exciting!

If you want to win the guest list spot, just send us an e-mail to win@thecraze.de (closing date Tue Dec 10th, 6pm) and tell us who's your favorite band from Canada.

Here's the facebook event for more info and links.

Ticket Giveaway: Fifth Floor Warehouse Party

By now you should have heard about the Fifth Floor Warehouse Party on Saturday (Dec 7th) that we are presenting. If you are also excited about the line-up and haven't bought your tickets yet, here's your chance to win a guest list-spot +1! 

All you have to do is send an e-mail with your name in it to door@5thfloor.info and hope you win.

Have a look at the facebook event page for all the details about line-up and bands.

Preview: the week ahead (2nd - 8th Dec)

Another pretty packed week full of concerts worth attending. Furthermore we co-present an event for the very first time: The Fifth Floor III Warehouse Party on Saturday. Read all about it below and be sure to check out all the other cool stuff that's going on as well!

Monday

• Hailu Mergia at Monarch: I told you about the Awesome Tapes From Africa DJ set and how wonderful that was (here). Well, one of the artists he played was Hailu Mergia and we are lucky little things, with Mr. Mergia coming to Monarch this cold Monday night. You cannot miss.

Tuesday

• Digger Barnes' Diamond Road Show at SO36: By now, Digger Barnes, Pencil Quincy and their Diamond Road Show are regular features on our blog and we’re not getting tired to stress how good this is live. The Diamond Road Show is a mixed media performance that features folky acoustic guitar songs and live visuals, made with a self built and real-time altered miniature trick film thing. It looks amazing and it sounds so as well. Don’t miss this!
• The Belle Game at Antje Öklesund: Orchestral dark pop, if you can grasp that. We are currently running a competition for this, if you feel like going to these popular Canadians’ gig this Tuesday. Hurry, competition ends Monday night.
• Wooden Shjips and Orchestra of Spheres at Berghain: Wooden Shjips do not need an introduction from The Craze. Wooden Shjips are musical heroes who will never disappoint nor ever surprise either. They do what they do and they do it amazingly. Read my review from the last time that happened in Berlin and watch this more than awesome video that was made on local turf, too. That should have won the video competition, every video competition!

Wednesday

• Dead Skeletons at SO36: This is sort of like The Craze’s Christmas party. We will all be here and we will all dance. It’s just going to be great. If you want to know more about Dead Skeletons and why this was my gig of 2012, read this elaborate review of hers. Though I worry a little that SO36 is just a tad too big and impersonal for DS, I would not want to miss this gig for the world. Enter our competition if you want to go for free. 
• Xenia Rubinos at Monarch: This is probably one you may not have on your radar but it should also be one you should look out for. The name suggests some latino music but don’t be fooled so easily, fool. Though performing in Spanish, Xenia Rubinos hits you with hip weirdness and fans of tUnE-yArDs (the similarities are astonishing!), The Monorchid, Finally Punk or other spazzy, punky outfits should listen up. Highly recommended. 

Thursday

• Destroyer (solo) and Richard Buckner at HAU1: “This is basically Washed Out pre Washed Out” is what my husband says. Hits the nail on the head really. Destroyer does dream pop, but with added phoney bits. You like 80s George Michael? You like Beach House? Destroyer lies somewhere in between.

Friday

• Nohome and Robert Lippok at Volksbühne: Nohome is a band project featuring Caspar Brötzmann, Marino Pliakas and Michael Wertmüller. Now this seems familiar, because Pliakas on bass and Wertmüller on drums also play in another band that includes a Brötzmann, namely Peter Brötzmann (read our review about their show at Festsaal Kreuzberg here). So they basically just swapped father for son and thus saxophone for electric guitar. Still they play music that ranges from jazz to experimental noise, Caspar Brötzmann’s heavily distorted and feedbacking guitar playing a central role. For this show, Nohome will also feature FM Einheit as a special guest musician, which makes the line up even more interesting. Support act will be Robert Lippok, whom you also may know from his project To Rococo Rot.

Saturday

• Fifth Floor III Warehouse Party with The Blue Angel Lounge + The Third Sound + Ascetic + Two Step Horror + The Sun and the Wolf + Brace/Choir : The Craze present a live show for the first time. The Fifth Floor Warehouse Party is a live event concept that already took place several times in Australia. Now they visit Berlin and throw a huge concert in a secret warehouse location. Headliners of the evening will be The Blue Angel Lounge who play dark wave music that is strongly influenced by early goth-punk and 80s bands. Think of a mix of Bauhaus and The Chameleons. For more info on all the other bands and what’s going on this evening, have a look at the facebook event page.

• The Pharmacy at White Trash: After they had to cancel their last trip to Europe, The Pharmacy will now play at White Trash. Prepare for a sweaty and dancy garage punk show with melodic songs and tunes.
• Chokebore at Privatclub: Since their reunion in 2009, Chokebore are pretty active touring around and they also have been regular Berlin visitors in the last time. On their current tour they'll play at Privatclub, so consider this a good chance to see them in a rather cozy setting.

Sunday

• Susie Asado at Pink Melon (see calendar for address details): Sweetest singer-songwriter music, very minimal, very folky and super cute and fun. You will love on a Sunday. I also adore the visuals in the following video:

Competition: Xenia Rubinos

Xenia Rubinos is finally making it to Berlin, playing at Monarch this coming Wednesday. Truly for fans of tUnE-yArDs and other spazzy rhythmic vocal live sampled music. A treat, just trust me. You don't want to miss this.

We are super excited to be giving away a ticket for a lucky winner and their chosen friend. Just send us an email to win at thecraze dot de by Wednesday morning, 11 am, and tell us a song you love that is about New York, New York.

Competition: Dead Skeletons

Gig of the year alert anyone?! Dead Skeletons easily won my "Gig of the year" award for 2012 and you should read my review and feel you cannot miss this for the world. The Craze team is making this their team party and we would love to welcome one of you and your mate to join us to this epic event.

To win a ticket for you and a friend, send us what you deem the most creepy song or video to win at thecraze dot de by 8 pm Tuesday, 3 December 2013. Make sure you label your email in a way that we see which competition you are entering.

See you on Wednesday, yeah yeah!